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Step Company - Christmas Sharing 2017

I’ve worked with the Contemporary Company for three years
after I became a Step Teacher. December is always a great time at Step into
Dance and every year I look forward to the Christmas Sharing, an informal event
where families of the company dancers are invited to the Royal Academy of Dance
to get an insight into what the dancers have been working in their weekly
rehearsals.It’s been great to prepare for the sharing. The dancers have
been on a high since their performance at the Lord Mayor’s Show in November and
they have learnt new material very quickly and with enthusiasm. The plan for
the Christmas Sharing was to show different exercises that we’ve worked
on: improvisation exercises to increase
movement vocabulary, traveling sequences and dancing on polyrhythms.

The Christmas Sharing went really well and I am delighted
that a few parents came to me after the showcase and told me they really
enjoyed our session.I’m looking forward to 2018. The rehearsals for the
Contemporary Company will focus more on creative tasks and we will start
teaching complex material that we’ll use for our upcoming performances. I can’t
wait!

A fantastic day for The Step Companies at the Lord Mayor's Show

Early Saturday morning on a cold grey day, I along with a group of 60 dancers from the Step Companies gathered near St Paul’s Cathedral dressed in our warmest clothes. After two weekends of intensive rehearsal the dancers were ready to perform their new processional piece Fall in – Fall out created especially for the days event, the Lord Mayor’s Show. In spite of wet and cold weather conditions, spirits were high and excitement was building. After a thorough warm up the company dancers took their place in front of the Donkey Breed Society and set off for the first leg of their performance. Dancers placed behind and on the bus, performed continually to an audience of around 7000 people lined up along the route moving artistically around the droppings left on the road by the processional horses. After a well-deserved and slightly frosty lunch, the Step dancers re-joined the procession for its second and final leg, this time with even more energy and professionalism, performing their new piece beautifully all the way to the last yard!

Thank you to all the dancers, Step Company team and the Jack Petchey Foundation for inviting us to be part of their float and making it such a memorable day. The dancers deserve even more praise knowing that they attended their usual Sunday rehearsals the day after… there must have been some pretty sore legs. It’s no rest for the wicked at Step into Dance!

Relieve the day by watching a short clip of the procession and checking out the pictures of the event.

The Step Companies to perform at The Lord Mayor's Show

Dancers from the Step
Companies will perform their new creative piece at the Lord Mayor's Show in the City on Saturday 11
November 2017. The annual parade is one of the longest-standing and most established event in London. It dates back to the 16th century and celebrates the appointment of the New Mayor of the City of London. Thousands of people line up along the route to watch the colourful parade.

The Company Dancers will be in the procession as part of the
Jack Petchey Foundation's carriage. Make sure you check out the running order and the timetable of the procession and come cheer on the new mayor and our performers!

A productive first day of rehearsal for the Step Companies

On Sunday, 86 dancers from various schools on the
programme made their way to the Royal Academy of Dance for their first company rehearsal of the year. After going through an audition stage, they have joined one
of the four Step Companies and will train, rehearse and work on a new piece until Step LIVE 2018. We were very happy to see the returning
dancers and to welcome the new recruits.

The four groups (Jazz, Contemporary, Street and
Inclusive) will be working on technique for the first couple of weeks to
improve the foundation of their dance styles. All the dancers also get the
chance to take ballet workshops, led by our teacher Ruth Mair.
Our teacher Brian taught both the Street and Contemporary
companies and said that there was fantastic talent in the room and that all the
dancers were very open and wonderful! You can watch one the sequences he taught
the Contemporary Company here:

Ps: you might soon see some of our company members perform in the City in one of the biggest processions in London. More info will be revealed soon…

130 young dancers attend the Step Companies' audition

The Royal Academy of Dance was buzzing last Sunday as 130
young aspiring dancers auditioned to join the Step Companies. Although the dancers were nervous, they gave it their all and we loved to see their big smiles when they came out of the dance studio. The
judge panel, composed of Step teachers and the Step office team, was very impressed with the high standard and really struggled
to whittle down the candidates.

We’re excited to welcome 86 selected dancers to join one
of the four Step Companies for the 2017/18 year. Their first day of rehearsal is this Sunday at the RAD and they will be jumping in ready to start working with their Company Leader and
assistants to train and create new work.Dancers and staff also had a chance to say goodbye to
Nathalie. She has looked after the Companies for two and a half years and
she is now leaving her role to return to her home town of Montreal. Everyone wished her well and sent her off with
kind words, countless hugs and lovely cards.

Half-term project fun!

Step into Dance is making the
most of the summer half-term break!

The Inclusive Company is creating a brand new piece with Sarah Blanc, renowned choreographer and artist at Candoco Dance Company. They are closely working
with World Heart Beat and globally acclaimed jazz musician Julian Joseph who composed the music for
the performance. Besides, a selected group of Contemporary Company members are developing a piece which they started last year with talented choreographer and movement director Jessica Williams. Finally, a couple of Step
into Dance alumni have made a comeback to the programme to create a duet to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.
All these pieces will be premiered at the evening show of
Step LIVE! in the Royal Festival Hall on Monday 17
July.

BONUS: here's a little extract of Julian Joseph, World Heart Beat and our inclusive company at rehearsal this week:

Watch our youth dance companies rehearse this Sunday!

Our Youth Dance Companies will have their first ever Watching Day
on Sunday 11 December. The informal setting will allow parents and friends to sit in the rehearsal studio and witness how the dancers have progressed
and what they’ve been working on this year. We will live stream parts of the sessions on our Facebook page this Sunday so you can see what goes on behind the scenes! Make sure you log in from 11am until 5pm.

First day of rehearsal for the youth dance companies

Sunday was back to work for our Youth Dance Companies! 85
dancers, including 35 new ones, made their way to the Royal Academy of Dance to
attend their first day of this year’s rehearsals with their respective company.
The four groups (Jazz, Contemporary, Street and Inclusive) will be working on
technique for the first few weeks to improve the foundation of their dance styles.
The dancers' initial shyness shouldn’t last long as they will have to build team
spirit to support each other, focus on creativity and prepare for upcoming
performance opportunities. The Youth Dance Companies will present their new work
across London throughout the year and will take centre stage at our end-of-year
show, Step LIVE!

Ignite includes performances from both
the Step into Dance Jazz and Contemporary Companies. The Contemporary Company
is performing a piece that will take you on a spiralling journey, which makes
you look at things downside up! The work has been choreographed by company
leader, Lee Griffiths, who is also Artistic Director of hip hop collective, The
Company.
The Jazz Company will get your feet
tapping with an energetic Footloose
number, choreographed by professional dancer Bethany Hague.Tickets for Ignite 2016 are available at rutc.ticketsource.co.uk or you can call the box office on 0208
607 8225.

Youth Companies' Christmas Sharing

This Sunday we will be hosting our annual Youth Companies' Christmas Sharing at the Royal Academy of Dance, in the Genée Studio.

85 dancers from our Jazz, Contemporary, Street and Inclusive Dance companies will perform in front of an audience of over 130 parents and friends. Dancers will share some of their classwork, this will include jazz and contemporary technique, hip hop, house, poppin’, lockin’, krump and playing with bowler hats! Each company will also perform a piece that they have been working on.

There will be a short ballet sequence using music from 'The Dance of the Knights', Romeo and Juliet, a contemporary dance piece inspired by the game Twister and an energetic Footloose number that will make everyone’s feet tap!

Step into Dance Inclusive Dance Company receive funding

We launched our fourth youth company in
September 2015. The Inclusive
Dance Company is a creative company made up of 20 dancers from SEN schools
on the programme. The group train on Sundays at the RAD, led by Step into Dance
teacher Nina Soutsou and assisted by Mahdi Ghali and Zoe Elliott.We are delighted that the Capital Group have agreed to fund
a half term project, enabling the Inclusive Company dancers to work with
London-based choreographer and Candoco artist Sarah Blanc on the creation of a
new piece. This is the second project of this kind that the Capital Group have
funded and we are extremely grateful for their support. We very much look
forward to seeing the final piece at Step LIVE! on Saturday 9 July
2016, at Sadler’s Wells.

14 year old, Darren Panda-Makonda, from Highams Park School
in East London, is one of the youngest in the Step into Dance Street Youth
Company. In the latest and final part of the Youth Company short film series,
he tells us how he has been dancing since he was two years old and already has
high ambitions, influenced by Michael Jackson’s talent and success! Although Darren’s
passion is for street dance he understands how also attending ballet classes
pushes him to ‘become a better dancer’.
Take
a look at Darren’s story, created by Patricja Cygan and Daniella Rice.

Ronnie Jellye, from Sutton, has been dancing with the Step
into Dance programme for three years now part of the Contemporary and Jazz
Youth Companies. She is ‘so grateful’ for all the opportunities that the
programme has given her and says ‘without Step into Dance I would never be the
dancer that I am today’.
Take a look at Ronnie’s story as part of the Step into Dance
Youth Company film series created by Patricja Cygan and Daniella Rice.

Step into Dance Jazz Youth Company – Insight with Katie Howard

Following the release of our first film, as part of the Youth
Company series by Patrycja and Daniella, you are now able to take a lookat Katie Howard’s story.

You are able to see what it’s like
to be part of the Step into Dance Jazz Youth Company.
Katie is a student at Highlands School in Enfield and has
been on the Step into Dance programme for five years. She says that dance ‘gives you the opportunity
to express yourself’ and being part of the Step into Dance programme she has
been able to really develop, as the team is ‘so motivating’.

An insight into the Step into Dance Youth Companies

Over the past year, in partnership with Eastside Educational Trust two very talented
young people: Daniella Rice and Patrycja Cygan have been following three Youth
Company members, as they progress through the year.Daniella and Patrycja have created four fantastic films that
we are very excited to now share with you. We will be releasing the films over
the next few weeks. The first film – an overview of the companies – is available
to view now!

Jack Petchey Foundation - Speak Out Challenge Final

Last night Jamie Flatters, Street and Contemporary Youth Company member, came second in the Jack Petchey Foundation Speak Out Challenge Grand Final.The evening consisted of young people speaking about different topics including depression, middle-child syndrome and the age old question of how to get a girl!

Jamie spoke about redefining what success is and what it means. He pointed out that it means different things to different people.All 15 of the finalists delivered their speeches with passion and conviction. It was a great evening at London’s prestigious Piccadilly Theatre.Step into Dance group Lambeth Academy also made an appearance in the evening, ahead of their performance at Step LIVE! on Sunday.

Milo Aylward, youth company member, to join the BRIT School

We are very proud of our Youth Company member, Milo Aylward who has been offered a place at the BRIT School of Performing Arts and Technology in
September, to study dance. Milo has performed twice at Step LIVE! as part of the Youth Companies, as well as with his Step into Dance group from Lambeth Academy. He will again perform this year with the Street and Contemporary Companies. Congratulations Milo!